Quick guide to student appeals
What is an appeal?
An appeal is a request for reviewing a sub-board of examiners decision (taught students) or a decision
made by your examiners or academic department (research students). Sub-board decisions include but are
not limited to: marks for exams and coursework, overall award classifications, acceptance or rejection of
mitigating circumstances claims.
An appeal gives you the opportunity to challenge a decision if you have evidence that it has not been made
correctly, or if you’ve got evidence you believe the examiners should have seen before they made their
decision. Please note you cannot appeal the academic judgements of the markers/examiners. Academic
judgement does not mean any judgement made by an academic; it means the considered view of a subject
specialist on your academic performance,
Who can appeal?
If you have concerns about a sub-board or examination decision, you should try and resolve this informally
in the first instance, by discussing it with your tutor, supervisor or other relevant member of staff,
All currently registered Birkbeck students can appeal. It is possible to appeal as a group of students, or to
let someone, such as your parent, appeal on your behalf. If you wish that someone else appeals on your
behalf, you must give written permission for this.
When can I appeal?
Any formal appeal to the Registry must be made within 6 weeks of the official notification of results. This
means within 6 weeks of the marks or award being published on your MyBirkbeck profile, 6 weeks after
you have been written to regarding the result of a mitigating circumstances claim, or 6 weeks after the
Registry letter confirming the outcome of your research degree exam. Any appeal submitted after the six
week deadline may not be accepted. Please do not try to appeal a mark before it has been published on
your MyBirkbeck profile, as we will not be able to process the appeal. This includes instances where your
mark has been published on Moodle or has been communicated to you via email.
How do I submit an appeal?
You submit a formal appeal by completing the appeal form and sending it to [email protected], or
by handing the paper form in to the Student Advice Centre in the Malet Street building. Any relevant
evidence to your appeal must be attached to the appeal form. It must be clear from your appeal which
module result(s) you are appealing.
Grounds for appealing and providing evidence
The College will only consider your appeal if it falls under one of the three permissible grounds for appeal.
These are:
a)
You have undisclosed mitigating circumstances
b)
There has been an administrative error
c)
The assessment or assessment decision was not conducted in accordance with the
relevant regulations and/or policies
If appealing on the basis of mitigating circumstances, suitable evidence should be an official document
e.g. a letter on official headed paper, and should normally include the dates during which the
circumstances applied. Claims and evidence for financial and accommodation problems are considered on
a case-by-case basis and must comply with the conditions for independent documentary evidence and
must fulfil the principles of the Mitigating Circumstances process. Students who have been granted special
examination arrangements for assessments would normally not have a claim of mitigating circumstances
accepted for the same piece of assessment unless the arrangements were shown to be inadequate or the
mitigating circumstances affected the student over and above the special examination arrangements that
had been made for them. Please refer to the Mitigating Circumstances Policy for more information.
If appealing on grounds b) and c) above, you must also submit some form of written evidence (e.g. emails
or screenshots) which suggest administrative error or procedural irregularity. For example: an email
providing you with misleading information, which you followed and as a result of which you failed your
assessment. If you appeal on the basis of c) above, we would normally expect you to refer directly to the
relevant policy, and explain how you believe it was contravened.
What happens when I appeal?
All appeals forms will be considered by a case handler in Registry. The case handler will assess whether
the appeal is in time and appears valid. If this is the case, they will investigate your appeal and refer it to
the chair of the sub-board of examiners (taught students) or the chair of the Research Student SubCommittee (research students). The chair will then make a decision on the appeal outcome, which will be
communicated to you by the case handler. If the appeal is made out of time or is not sufficiently supported
by evidence, it will be rejected.
What if I’m not happy with the appeal outcome?
If you believe that the appeal outcome is unreasonable or against College regulation or policy, or that a
mistake was made in the handling of your appeal, you can request that the appeal is reviewed. You should
do this within 2 weeks of getting the appeal outcome. If your request is accepted by the Academic
Registrar or nominee, the appeal outcome may change, or it may be referred to an appeal panel.
The Office of the Independent Adjudicator
If you’ve completed the College’s internal appeals process and remain unsatisfied, you can refer your
appeal to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA). In order to contact the OIA the College needs to
provide you with a Completion of Procedures letter.
Appeals for Research Students
Research Appeals are dealt with under a dedicated Appeals Policy for Research Students. The appeal form
for research students can be found here. This policy applies to students being examined for the degrees of
MPhil and PhD, and for students who have been examined for the MPhilStud in respect of the thesis only.
Research appeals must also be submitted within six weeks of notification of any formal decision taken by
your examiners. Just like Taught Appeals, Research appeals have an early resolution stage, during which
students are encouraged to discuss their case informally with the PGR director in their department. If the
appeal is accepted at the formal stage (Stage 2), it is referred to an independent member of the RSSC for a
formal response. The grounds for research appeals also differ slightly. The following are acceptable
grounds for research appeals:
a)
You have undisclosed mitigating circumstances
b)
The examination was not conducted in accordance with the regulations
c)
The assessment or assessment decision was not conducted in accordance with the
relevant policies